please explain a film "treatment"
 

what is a treatment? how long are they normally? what do they consist of? does anyone know a site that has some?

Thanks

According to the dictionary:

A written sketch outlining the plot, characters, and action for a screenplay but not including certain elements of a finished screenplay, such as camera directions and dialogue.

According to Third Millenium Entertainment's screenwriting glossary:

A movie in prose form, anywhere from 15-60pp, which details a blow-by-blow summary of the story (important details of each scene, action, and character) told in present tense and generally with no dialogue.

Any treatment I've read has rarely been more than twenty pages long. By all means WRITE ONE if you're doing a script. They'll really bring out your ideas. Think of it as a first draft of... your first draft.

Word Donnacha, he summed it up well.. tells the reader what the hell they are about to read, without reading it the whole first draft craziness.

TCG, here's a site with some examples (in pdf format) if you're still interested. Aliens is an excellent example. Hope this helps...

www.screentalk.biz/treatments.htm